


He Had Time

by jeni_andtheafterthought



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, common room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 09:57:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9434966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeni_andtheafterthought/pseuds/jeni_andtheafterthought
Summary: Harry stays up late alone in the eighth year common room until one night, Malfoy joins him.





	

The eighth-year common room was always empty.  No one quite knew what do to with it.  There were no house colors displayed and the furniture didn’t match.  Harry’s favorite sofa was a low-sitting ugly thing that seemed to have survived more than a few transfiguration blunders. For all its faults, the sofa was comfortable. Harry spent many nights stretched across it in front of the fireplace.  

It was colder than usual when Harry slipped out of the dormitory.  He pulled his thick blanket over his head as he settled in front of the fire.  Only minutes later, Harry felt the weight of someone sitting next to his feet. Harry was sure Ron and Neville were sleeping when he left.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Harry whispered.

His guest nestled down on the far end of the sofa, Harry felt a rush of cold air as his blanket was lifted before someone’s cold feet brushed his legs.

“Wasn’t asleep.” 

Harry didn’t answer and didn’t dare move.

Malfoy. Malfoy was under his blanket. They’d been polite when necessary  barely speaking to each other since the beginning of the term and now Malfoy’s feet were pressed against Harry’s legs.

“Frozen solid? My feet aren’t that cold are they?” Malfoy’s socks brushing against Harry’s legs.

Harry was sure Malfoy thought he was someone else. _There’s no way Malfoy is willingly under a blanket with me._

“Potter?” 

_Well maybe he is._

“Do you want me to leave?” Malfoy asked.

“No.”

Harry, not quite sure what to do, stayed motionless until it seemed Malfoy was asleep.  Doing his best not to wake Malfoy, he went back to his bed leaving his blanket behind. Not long before sunrise, Harry finally drifted into sleep.

 

 

The next night Harry took his blanket, which had been neatly folded on the end of his bed when he woke, back to the sofa near the fire.  Harry had just sat down with his blanket draped over his shoulders when Malfoy sat down next to him.  Harry sat like a stone.  

Malfoy tugged the blanket around himself pressing his shoulder into Harry’s.  

“I would ask if I’ve been turned into a basilisk, but you’d have to look at me before you were petrified,” Malfoy said, a bit too quietly and much too closely.

“Er. Sorry. I…” Harry stopped, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. Harry stood too quickly, his head feeling fuzzy with the sudden jump. He walked back to his dormitory without looking back until he felt his wadded up blanket hit him in the back. By the time he turned to pick it up, Malfoy was nowhere in sight.

 

 

Harry didn’t see Malfoy the next day.  For reasons he didn’t bother to examine, this bothered him.  He’d wanted to apologize for running. Harry just didn’t want to think about why he needed to get away so quickly last night.  Harry wasn’t ready to think about the tightness in his chest as Malfoy’s feet brushed against his legs.  He didn’t want to think of the heat in his face when Malfoy’s shoulder leaned in to his.  How Malfoy’s voice sounded so close in the dark of the common room.

Harry left his dormitory later than usual that night.  He headed for the sofa with a bit more flourish than usual, maybe hoping Malfoy would hear.  Harry sat a bit closer to the middle of the sofa than he usually preferred and left half of is blanket untouched.  

_Just in case_ , he thought.

Just as Harry had started to accept the disappointment of a night alone a door opened.  Harry turned to look at Malfoy walking toward him with an amused expression.

Malfoy sat next to Harry taking the side of the blanket Harry left for him, “Congratulations, Potter.  Maybe next time we’ll work up to actual words.”

_Next time_. Harry thought as Malfoy moved closer.  For the first time in years, Harry realized, he had time. He had time to figure out what this meant, what he wanted it to be. Harry kept his thoughts still and rested his head on Malfoy’s shoulder not noticing the smile on Draco’s face.

**Author's Note:**

> no beta, no proofreading, we die as warriors  
> Simply had to borrow Rowling's characters.


End file.
